Post-check currency.



PATENTED SEPT. 27, 1904.

1. D. WORCESTER.

POST CHECK CURRENCY. APPLIOATION FILED APR. 9, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

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UNITED STATES Patented September 2'7, 1904.

PATENT GEETCE.,

u `POST-CHECK CURRENCY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 771,110, dated September 27, 1904. Application filed April 9, 19073. Serial No. 151,740. (No model.)

To rl/ZZ whom/it ina/y concern:

'Be it known that I, IRA D. VVORGESTEE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Post-Check Currency, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to that class of currency or money which is designed to be changed by the holder thereof into a check payable only to the payeenamed thereon.

So far as I am aware it has heretofore been proposed to employ a post-check-currency system the essential features of which are as follows: Each post-check contains in addition to the recitals and provisions usuallyprovided by law appropriate blank spaces in which the holder may write his name and the name and address ofa payee and also a space wherein the payee upon payment of the note may write his own name as a receipt and also a space wherein a postage-stamp or other adhesive stamp may be afiixed. Said post-check is intended to circulate as currency the same as other money so long as the blank spaces thereof are unfilled; but when it is desired to change the note into a check which is no longer valid for circulation as currency, but is 'payable to a payee only, a stamp has first to be affixed to the note upon the space provided 'therefor and appropriately canceled, and the name and address of a payee, the name of the sender, and the date are written in spaces provided therefor, appropriate words setting forth these facts being printed upon the face of the note. It is assumed and asserted and seems to be generally accepted as a fact that such a post-check note when transformed as provided into a check payable only to the payee named stated is as safe for transmission through the mail as any check or `moneyorder. Such a postal note is, in fact, little, if any, safer for such transmission than the present paper currency now in common use. One fault is that no adequate provision is made for detecting erasures made by liquid ink-erasers; but the great fault and weakness of the system as at present known and contemplated lies in the fact that all the names and other writing in the blank spaces may be erased by means of liquid ink erasers or otherwise and the spaces easily fixed up orsoiled, so that no change can be detected except upon close expert observation, thus leaving the post-check note in condition for circulation as before. It is obvious that such a system with the currency in its present state is without practical value over and above the ordinary paper currency commonly used and is impossible of safe transmission through the post. The objects of the post-check currency as now contemplated are not accomplished, and the system is without practical efiiciency in its present condition. It is necessary to devise some simple means which renders the post-check note after it has been once transformed by the holder into a check payable to the payee named thereon recognizable at a glance and absolutely incapable of being again transformed into a close resemblance of the unchanged post-check note. This object is accomplished, and the system as now known is extended and improved by my invention, which does not involve any additional cornplications or expense. The means which I have devised for attaining this object consists in making the post-check note with an integral member, preferably at a corner thereof, said member being readily torn from the note or otherwise detached therefrom before the note is delivered to the payee named in the body portion of the note. The detachable member contains symbols 0 1 characters expressing the number, series, and other identification matter of the post-check note of which it forms an integral and indivisible part in an intact or complete condition of said note, and in addition to this identification matter the detachable member contains blank spaces in which are to be written the name and address of the payee and the name of the sender, and it may also be provided with a space designated to receive the date. Said detachable member also contains appropriate words directing the sender to detach and retain said member before delivering the same to the payee. The body of the post-check note contains words to the effect that the same is not valid for circulation as currency when the cor- IOC ner member is detached from said body portion, together with a clause making thel body portion payable to the payee named thereon and payable to the bearer only when the blank spaces are unfilled and the corner is not detached. Furthermore, the body portion contains blank spaces in which are to be written the name and address of a payee, the name of the sender, and the date, a blank space for the signature of the payee as a receipt for the payment of the face value of the note, and a space whereon an adhesive stamp may be afxed and canceled; also, appropriate words directing the proper use of said blank spaces.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the course of the subjoined description, and the novelty will be defined by the annexed claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both the figures.

Figure l is a view showing the obverse face of a post-check note embodying my invention, and Fig. 2 is a view of the reverse face of the note.

A designates the body portion of my postcheck note, and B is the detachable member thereof, said detachable member being integral with the body A and preferably forming one corner thereof. The body and its detachable member may be made of any suitable material, preferably of that kind of paper employed in the manufacture of currency, and to minimize the fradulent alteration of the note after it shall have been transformed into a check payable only to a named payee this note and its detachable member are provided with lines or a suitable design printed upon or across the blank spaces whereon the names are to be written or by inserting in the body of the paper or at the blank spaces thereof fine threads of silk or other material chemically prepared in two or more colors, said printed lines or design or said silk threads to contain such chemicals as will when acted upon by liquid ink-erasers produce a change in the color thereof or cause the color to become diffused upon the face of the note, whereby any attempted erasures by means of liquids will by close observation be indicated by the condition of the prepared portions of the note.

The body A together with its detachable member B are provided with indelible words, lettering, figures, or other symbols indicating the value of the note as money or currency; but the particular design and ornamentation of the entire note may be modified from the example shown by Fig. l of the drawings as preferred. The body A is provided with a space (t, on which may be written, printed, stamped, or otherwise inscribed the name of a payee, and it is also provided with a line or space I) to receive the address of said payee.

Below the line or space b the note is furnished with a line or space c to receive the signature of the payee when the latter receives the face value of the note from a money-order postofiiee or other public depository. Adjacent to the lines or spaces a b e are suitable words directing the method of using the noteas, for example, the words Pay to below the space a, the words City7 and State below the space and the words Received payment below the space o. At Z the note has a space to receive the number and characters indicating the series. A space e is reserved for the reception of a stamp which is to be afiixed to the face of the note and to be canceled in any suitable or appropriate way by the sender when the note is utilized as a check payable only to a payee, words to that effect being printed in said space. The space f is provided on the face of the note to receive the seal of the Government, and spaces may also be provided on the note to receive the name and address of the sender and the date of transmitting the cheek, and said body A is furthermore furnished with a panel g, in which are words to the effect that the note is Payable to the payee named hereon. Payable to bearer when the following spaces are unfilled and the corner is not detached.

To best carry out the principle of my invention, a narrow blank space it should eX- tend across the corner or end of the body A and between the latter and the detachable member B, said narrow space z/ being bounded by parallel lines. This space should contain a line of severance or demarcation, such as indicated at c', and in this space /t are suitable directions for detaching the member Bsuch, for example, as the phrase Cut on this line. rlhe parallel lines may be of a different color from the body of the post-check note to draw the special attention of the user to the fact that the member B must be detached when the body A is transformed into a check. On the body of the note and extending adjacent to the space 7L are suitable words indicating that the note is not valid for circulation for currency or money when the corner is detached.

The member B is provided in addition to matter indicating its value and the nature thereof with a blank line or spaceA j, adapted to receive the name or the name and address of a payee, and with a blank space k, which receives the identification matter which corresponds to the matter in the space d on the body A, and it also contains suitable words descriptive of the use of the space or spaces y', such as the words Payee, City and State. This detachable member is furthermore provided with instructions for its use-such, for example, as the clause Before mailing' detach and retain this corner. The phrases on the body A and the detachable member B, indicating the method of IOO lIO

using the note and the invalidity thereof in case the corner is detached, shouldpreferably be adjacent to the line of severance or demarcation c', and said phrases should be made quite distinct, as should also the space or line i' along which thecut is to be made. On the reverse face of the note (shown by Fig. 2) it is not necessary to indicate the line along which the corner is to be severed; but, as shown by said Fig. 2, this corner forming the member B may have the line of demarcation indicated, as at z", and it may contain suitable directions for transforming the notev into a check, such as the phrase lVhen this corner is detached on the member B and the phrase This note is not negotiable on the body A, the two phrases being on opposite sides of and extending along said line z". Vhen the memberB is detached, the phrase This note is not negotiable appears on the reverse face of the body A.

The member B of the note when detached is to be retained by the sender and will serve as a means of tracing and identifying the note should the same be fraudently obtained and the names thereon changed or money received therefor by other than the rightful payee. Special importance is attached to the detachable member B having identification characters or symbols corresponding to those used on the body A, and the removal of the member B so alters the appearance of the body A as to make it at once noticeable in the eyes of ordinary persons, thus leaving the body A in a condition which renders its change back to the original condition almost impossible.

In the practical use. of the post-check note as a medium of exchange it can be provided that any note upon which erasures are detected in the blank spaces intended for the names of the payee and sender, whether said blank spaces be filled or partly filled or still remain unfilled after detaching the corner member B, will be paid, exchanged, or redeemed, the proper stamp being first affixed, only upon presentation of the entire note, including the detachable member B, either attached or detached. This would make it almost impossible, with suitable means, such as described, for detecting erasures, for the note to be altered and then cashed or exchanged by other than the rightful holder thereof, who would usually be the sender.

It is certain that many mistakes and voccasions for erasures will occur in filling out by the sender of post-check notes; but this will cause no greater hardship to the person making the mistake than the price of the stamp and the trouble of having the note redeemed or exchanged. lWithout this feature of redemption of the note it would usually be filled out over the erasures, and when presented for payment by the payee the question would arise whether or not the note had been fraudulently altered. This would be a constant source of annoyancethat could not be reme- `claim as new and died except by the employment of the detachi By the em- -sender would have no positive record of thev note save only possibly the date and the name of the payee to whom he had sent some postcheck note; but there would be nothing to positively identify the altered note in question. This annoyance and trouble is avoided by the use ofthe note herein described, and should it happen, as it might occasionally, that the payee has received a post-check note upon which erasures appear the most trouble it could cause him would be to write the sender for the detached portion, upon receiving and presenting which, with the body of the note, the same would be exchanged or redeemed as provided.

Any post-check note which has been filled out may be exchanged by the sender, the proper stamp being first aflixed, but only upon presentation of the entire note--that is to say, the member B, either attached or detached, being presented along with the body of the note.

Having thusy described my invention, I desire to secure by Letters Patentl. A postal note or instrument of monetary or numerical value having an integral member and an indicated line or space on which said member is detachable, the body and the detachable member bearing on their faces corresponding symbols or characters, expressing the value of the note and the identity of the portions thereof, and spaces designated to receive the name of a payee; said note being designated to denote its invalidity as a circulating medium of exchange when the separavble member is detached from the body thereof.

2. A postal note or instrument of monetary or numerical value, comprising a body portionand a member integral with a corner of said body portion, said note having a diagonal line or space on which the member is separable from the body portion, said body portion and the separable corner member thereof bearing corresponding symbols or characters expressing the value of the note or instrument and the'identity of the portions thereof, and spaces designated to receive the lname and address of a payee; said note being designated to denote its invalidity as a circulating medium of exchange when the corner member is detached from the body portion.

3. A postal note or instrument of monetary value having a member integral with the body of the instrument and a designated diagonal line or space on which the member is separable from the body portion, said body portion and separable member having corresponding IOO IIO

u identilication characters and the body portion and the separable member each having' spaces designated to receive the name or' a payee and being designated to denote that the instrument is payable to bearer when said spaces are unfilled and the member remains in an intact condition With the body portion.

4. A postal note' or instrument or' monetary or numerical value, comprising a body portion and a member integral with an end portion of said body, said note having lan indicated line or space on which the member is separable from the body portion; said separable member and the body portion bearing corresponding symbols or characters expressing the value of the note or instrument and the identity of the portions thereof, and spaces designated for the insertion of the name of a payee; said note being designated to denote its invalidity as a circulating medium of exchange when the separable member is detached from the body portion, and said body portion having a space designated for the reception of a stamp.-

5. A postal note or instrument of monetary value comprising a body portion and a corner member having corresponding identiiication characters, said note having a designated line or space on which the corner member is separable from the body portion, said note being designated to denote its validity as a circulating medium of exchange, payable to bearer, in an intact or connected condition of the body portion and the corner member, and said body portion having spaces designated to receive the name of a payee and a stamp, and the separable member also bearing a space designated to receive the name of a payee.

6. An instrument or' exchange having a member integral with the body of the instrument, said instrumenthaving an indicated line or space on which the member is separable from the body, said body and separable member bearing corresponding symbols or characters indicating the identity of .said portions, and spaces designated to receive the name of a payee; and said instrument being designated to denote that it is payable to a payee named thereon, and payable to bearer when said spaces are unfilled and said separable member remains intact with said body.

7. An instrument of exchange comprising a body portion, and a member integral With an end portion of said body, said instrument having an indicated line or space on Which the member is separable at will from the body portion said body and the separable member being suitably marked or designated to indicate their identity, and bearing spaces designated to receive the name of a payee; and the instrument being designated to indicate that it is payable only to a payee named thereon and when said separable member is detached or said spaces are filled.

8. An instrument of exchange comprising a body portion, and a member integral with said body, said instrument having an indicated line or space on Which the member is separable at Will from the body, said body portion and separable member each bearing spaces designated to receive the name of a payee, and said body portion being designated to indicate that it is payable only to a payee named thereon and When the separable member is detached therefrom.

9. An instrument of exchange comprising a body portion, and a member integral with said body, said instrument having an indicated line or space on which the member is separable from the body portion, said body portion and separable member having corresponding identification characters and the body portion being designated to indicate that it is payable to bearer only when said separable member is intact With the body the latter and the separable member each bearing spaces designated to receive the name of a payee.

In testimony vvhereoil I have signed my name to this speciiication in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

IRA D. WORCESTER.

Witnesses:

Grao. S. RILEY, EARL E. KAUTZ. 

